MACON, Ga. — For Central High School's football Coach Joaquin Sample, Henderson Stadium is tradition.
"I consider Henderson to be Central's home, so not having this game at Henderson hurts me," he says, "It's not like some stadiums where there's a track around it -- it's real intimate, so that's really been the heartbeat of the county in terms of where all the big city games have been played. I'm anxious to get back over there."
He's anxious, but still patient. When Sample walked through the field on Monday morning, he says he knew it was not ready for Friday Night Lights just yet.
Some of the things he noted include crooked goal posts, piles of dirt and sand, uneven grass on the field, and overgrowth of plants in the stands.
Sample says, "I understand how important Henderson is to the Chargers community. At the same time, I have to make a decision for the kids in my field house and the kids over at Westside to make sure that they play on a field that is conducive to how big this game is."
The game scheduled for Friday is now moved to the Ed Defore Complex on Thursday night, but Bibb County says they're sticking to the October 4 deadline regardless.
Chris Floore with Bibb County says they understand why the move made sense for Coach Sample. "It was not ready on Monday for play, that's absolutely true. That's why we're doing all this work through Friday, we had contractors here Friday and Saturday night until 2:00 in the morning, they'll be working until 2 as necessary to get this work done by Friday."
Floore says all of the work left is minor. "Fixing broken fencing, doing some sod outside the field itself, outside of the stadium, cleaning up the construction material."
Sample says they'll walk through the field again early next week before Northeast and Southwest play next Friday.
The Central Chargers will play the Westside Seminoles on Thursday night. The county says once this phase of work is done at Henderson, the final phase will be fixing the concession stands and parking lot.
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